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Microsoft has revealed a few of the changes coming in future Windows 10 updates. They are mostly tweaks rather than new features, though that will likely reduce the chances of performance bugs. The changes have been unveiled as part of the "Fast ... Ring" of the Windows 10 Insiders Program. That means they're going out to the people in Microsoft's test program who've signed up to try out changes before anyone else, knowing it carries the biggest risk of new features not working well or even having bugs that affect Windows and other applications. New Windows 10 Changes Go Public April ... (view more)

Microsoft has confirmed Edge will now use the same code as Chrome . It's also said it plans to support Chrome extensions on Edge. The news bears out previous reports, though notably it appears Microsoft will stick with the Edge name for the revamped ... browser. That may be because it put so much effort into branding Edge as the replacement of Internet Explorer. It's all to do with rendering engines, the part of a web browser that actually turns the code of a web page into what the users sees on screen. Microsoft is ditching its own EdgeHTML and adopting "Chromium," an open source ... (view more)

Sources close to Microsoft suggest that the company may ditch its Edge browser as the default option in Windows 10. Its replacement would run on the same underlying code as Google's Chrome. While Edge has failed to win the hearts of most users, it ... appears the main reason behind the move is that site developers are tired of having to do extra work to make their sites work on the browser. The most recent statistics show Chrome dominating the browser market, being used on more than 70 per cent of computers, compared with just four percent running Edge. Given that Edge is the default option on ... (view more)

Microsoft has confirmed two more bugs with the seemingly-cursed Windows 10 Update. Neither are the end of the world, but it continues to raise questions about the testing process. The first problem is with setting programs to be the default option ... when opening particular file types. While not the most exciting feature, it's one of those little things that make life much easier: without it, users have to either manually select the program they want to open every time they click on a file, or open the program itself and then open the file from there. All Microsoft will confirm at this point is ... (view more)

Some users of Apple's iCloud software will be unable to get the latest Windows 10 update right now. It's an example of Microsoft blocking the update rather than causing problems with specific applications. iCloud is the online backup and sync tool ... for Apple devices such as iPhones and iPads. It's aimed at people who have iOS mobile devices but also use a Windows PC. iCloud lets users access Apple services and data such as their email, photos and calendar on both the mobile device and computer. Unfortunately iCloud is the victim of yet another glitch in the October update of Windows 10, one of ... (view more)

Microsoft has begun rolling out the October 2018 update for Windows 10 for a second time. It doesn't take a much of a look at the calendar to reveal that things went very badly . The release is one of the twice-yearly updates that replace the old ... model of having small updates every month and then a completely new edition of Windows every few years. The October update had a variety of problems including: Key document folders being irretrievable deleted in some cases if they weren't stored in the default disk location. Some computers being completely silenced after the update rolled out an ... (view more)

Microsoft has fixed a problem with the latest major Windows 10 update that left some computers silent. It's blamed Intel for an incompatible audio driver. A driver is software that helps a hardware device (such as a soundcard) work with an operating ... system, such as Windows. Sometimes drivers need to be updated to keep working with a new or updated edition of Windows. In the past, users often had to download drivers from hardware manufacturers, which usually meant using a search engine to find the appropriate page with a download link. These days, however, the Windows Update process often ... (view more)

Microsoft has fixed a problem with a Windows 10 update that inadvertently deleted user documents. Oddly the problem had been highlighted in early testing, but doesn't seem to have been fixed. The issue received widespread attention when the October ... 2018 Update started rolling out to the wider public. That's the second of the two big annual updates that bring new features to Windows 10, a system that replaces the old set-up of having service packs rolled out every few years. Some users discovered that after the update, everything they had stored in their Documents folders had disappeared. Some ... (view more)

Microsoft has released Office 2019, but effectively told would-be buyers it's not as good as Office 365. It's a clear attempt to push people towards the subscription model. In one of the more bizarre publicity drives for a new product, Microsoft ... gives very little attention to Office 2019 itself. It's the latest (and very possibly last) installment of MS Office as a standalone program to install and run on a computer, something Microsoft now calls the "on-premises" version. (Source: theregister.co.uk ) The package includes the core programs of Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint and Word on both ... (view more)

Microsoft is asking users to think twice before installing browsers such as Firefox and Chrome. A "warning message" is being tested in Windows 10. The message has been spotted by people in the Windows Insider program that lets them get early access ... to new features. The idea is to test the features on computers being used out in the 'real world' rather than in Microsoft labs. One such user has posted a screenshot of a message that appeared when they attempted to install Mozilla's Firefox browser. It reads "You already have Microsoft Edge - the safer, faster browser for Windows 10." ... (view more)